


I Know Who To Call

by symphie5493



Category: Chicago Med, Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt Jay Halstead, Hurt/Comfort, Jay Halstead Whump, Medical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:54:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29073654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/symphie5493/pseuds/symphie5493
Summary: Alternate ending to PD 3.01 - Jay’s recovery from being kidnapped by Keyes. Jay/Will brotherly love and Jay/Mouse friendship.
Relationships: Greg "Mouse" Gerwitz & Jay Halstead, Jay Halstead & Will Halstead
Comments: 5
Kudos: 99





	I Know Who To Call

**Author's Note:**

> Starting to move from Fire to PD ;)

Jay laid on the floor, his vision blurry. 

“Halstead!” he heard as Adam entered the room, gun drawn. 

Erin had just shot Derek Keyes and turned, walking out the door, a blank stare on her face.

Ruzek crouched down and slowly helped Jay move to a sitting position. By the time he’d sat up, Voight had entered and was kneeling over Keyes’ body, watching Jay carefully from across the room. Antonio kneeled above the other offender, checking a pulse. Atwater reached them and pulled his knife from his back pocket, leaning behind Jay to slice through the tape that held his wrists behind him. Jay groaned as the sudden release of his strained muscles caused a flash of pain through his body.

“Get the medics in here,” Voight said into his radio.

“No, let me walk, Sarge,” Jay croaked, his voice hoarse.

Hank considered his choices for a moment, his detective sitting beaten and bloody in front of him. 

He was looking for dignity. Jay glanced between the members of his team the best he could, his eyes swollen and his equilibrium shifting, and recognized the look in their eyes. He remembered Keyes pointing the camera toward him as he hung from the ceiling. He remembered using all his strength to stay quiet, and not being able to keep himself from crying out as the taser lit his insides over and over, his body’s reflexes betraying him. He wondered exactly how much they saw of his last 24 hours. The embarrassment was almost worse than anything else. He was a Ranger. He could handle himself. He trained for this.

Voight nodded once, and Jay sighed.

Adam and Kevin both grabbed Jay’s arms carefully, draping them over their own shoulders, and he stifled a moan, his breath hitching in his throat as they helped him stand. He let his dizziness subside for a moment and took his left arm off Adam’s shoulder to brace his ribs, keeping his right around Kevin’s shoulders. Ruzek moved his hand to behind Jay’s back, hovering there to catch him if he faltered. Together, the team slowly made their way outside.

xxx

Jay sunk into a sitting position on the back of the ambulance, waiting for the paramedics to declare death on the two offenders inside the house after insisting he was fine. He kept his left arm wrapped around his mid-section, bracing his ribs, and used his other hand to carefully knead his burning shoulder. He was fully aware the adrenaline was keeping him from feeling the full effects of the last 24 hours on his beaten body and was thankful for the reprieve. 

Suddenly, a shadow blocked the sun and he looked up, face-to-face with Erin.

“You okay?” she asked.

They stared at each other for a few moments, unmoving, both trying to read the other’s face.

“I’m just glad it was you that they sent in,” he finally said.

She swallowed and nodded softly before walking away.

Voight stepped into her place, watching her leave and then turning back to Halstead.

“I called your brother,” he said, putting a careful hand on Jay’s upper arm. “He’s meeting us at Med.”

“I’m good, Sarge,” Jay tried, his voice still hoarse.

“Halstead, I’m proud of how you handled yourself in there, but you’re going to Med,” Hank said, in a tone that left no room for argument.

Al, Antonio, Kevin, and Adam approached just as the paramedics reached the rig.

Hank turned to Antonio, “Go with him.”

Antonio nodded, never intending on leaving his friend.

xxx

“Jay!” Will shouted as soon as the ED doors slid open.

“I’m good,” Jay answered robotically as they wheeled his stretcher into an exam room, his brother following beside them.

“Why don’t you let us judge that?” Dr. Choi said, smirking, as the paramedic locked Jay’s stretcher in place and stepped away.

Jay’s eyes darted around the exam room, thankfully only seeing Dr. Choi and Maggie, plus Will. Jay wasn’t sure how that happened, but he had a feeling it was probably his brother’s doing, asking everybody to steer clear of the room unless they had to be there, since it only heightened Jay’s anxiety about medical treatment.

Jay’s shirt was already gone and Maggie helped him remove the temporary sling from his left shoulder that the paramedics had given him before cutting his pants away, leaving him feeling even more vulnerable as they all laid eyes on the proof of his last 24 hours.

“Maggie, start a line and push fluids,” Ethan instructed.

Jay grit his teeth and steeled himself as Dr. Choi ran his fingers along the burns and bruises. He watched Maggie carefully, feeling his stomach drop and swallowing hard as she started the IV.

“Tell me what you’re feeling, Detective,” Ethan asked.

“I’m fine, just sore,” he lied, his jaw tight.

Dr. Choi smiled, knowing first-hand how Army vets downplayed their pain. He moved toward the head of the bed, taking Jay’s arm and testing the range of motion in his shoulders. Jay clenched his right fist and inhaled sharply as Ethan lifted his left shoulder, moving his arm back and forth. 

“Sorry, man,” Ethan apologized, setting his arm down slowly and allowing Jay to grab it with his other hand.

“Morphine, Maggie,” he instructed. 

“No,” Jay protested. “I’m fine.”

Ethan looked to Will and Will shook his head, communicating not to push the issue.

“Okay, we’re going to get an EKG and get you up to CT, Detective,” Ethan said. “My guess? Exhaustion, dehydration, a concussion, some fractured ribs, probably a tear in that shoulder on the left, but I think your right is just strained. Obviously some burns and bruising. We’ll definitely keep you overnight.”

Jay’s face fell and he looked to Will for help.

“Can’t I just go home?” he tried. “Will can stay with me tonight.”

“I need you hooked up to the monitors tonight, man. I’m sorry. Those taser hits can do a lot of damage and I don’t need you throwing a weird cardiac rhythm at home,” Ethan explained.

Jay closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the bed, clearly disappointed.

“We’ll make this quick, Jay,” Maggie reassured him, searching his chest for healthy skin to place the monitor leads.

xxx 

Maggie tucked the sheet around Jay, her last act after retrieving him from his CT scan and getting him settled into a room. She flashed him a smile and squeezed his leg before leaving the room.

Will stared at his brother from where he stood beside Voight in the doorway, thanking Maggie as she exited.

Jay wiped the sweat from his forehead and quickly brought his shaking hand down, hoping Will and Hank wouldn’t notice. The adrenaline of the previous day was definitely gone, and he was feeling every ounce of what he’d been through. Sweating, shaking, nauseous, pounding headache, dizzy, his ribs and shoulder on fire, his eyes heavy. 

Will leaned over and shined his penlight in Jay’s eyes, sending a shooting pain through his head. He squeezed his eyes shut and grunted at his brother. He put up his right hand to push him away and winced as the small movement caused his ribs to shift.

“Here…” he heard Will say, right before he felt a cold weight laid on his aching left shoulder. He drew in a sharp breath and pulled the bedsheet beneath him into his clenched fist, his knees coming up toward him like a reflex. He opened his eyes and swallowed hard, stifling a groan as best he could as Will helped him lean forward, wrapping plastic around the ice pack and then around his body under his other arm to keep it secure.

He laid back, his breathing ragged as he tried to get control over the pain again.

“Jay, you’ve got to take something, man…” Will argued.

Jay didn’t answer, staring intensely at the wall in front of him, swallowing the nausea resulting from his pain and dizziness.

Hospitals, needles, doctors, being trapped here, not being in control. Will knew it was a recipe for disaster for Jay’s PTSD, even without adding the trauma of the last 36 hours. He knew Jay would heal faster if he would take something, but he also knew he would never win the argument. 

“Two painkillers and a muscle relaxer,” he said, dropping three pills in a medicine cup on the bedside table. 

“Halstead…” Voight tried. 

Jay cut his eyes at his boss, his stare hard and distant. 

Voight simply nodded and Will put a hand on Jay’s arm, squeezing it lightly once before he and Hank exited the room, closing the door behind them. 

Will took one last glance through the window at his younger brother before turning to Hank.

“I wish he would take something stronger than the damn Tylenol, Voight. He needs to get some sleep,” Will said, clearly frustrated.

“I know who to call,” Hank said simply, walking away and dialing the district.

xxx

Jay sensed the movement near the door and cut his eyes, careful to move as little as possible. Mouse stepped tentatively into the room, bouncing on his heels and wringing his hands. 

“Jay…” he said quietly.

“I’m okay, Mouse,” Jay assured him, knowing exactly what was going through his friend’s head.

Mouse nodded his head and walked forward, taking a seat beside the bed, but continuing to bounce his feet. The silence hung between them for a moment before Mouse spoke again.

“Jay, man, I’m sorry...”

Jay shook his head hard and instantly regretted it, the ache pounding behind his eyes.

“The files I made, they weren’t...I mean, I tried, but I couldn’t…” Mouse stammered, the guilt thick in his voice.

Jay sighed, and reached over slowly, the ice pack wrapped around his shoulder shifting, grabbing Mouse’s shoulder and shaking it slightly, forcing him to look him in the eye.

“It’s over, Mouse. It’s over,” Jay said, grounding him.

Mouse brought his hands up and clasped them together, leaning his elbows on the side of Jay’s bed and nodding. Jay nodded back, not breaking eye contact with his friend until Mouse sighed, leaning back in the chair, visibly relaxing.

They sat in silence, letting the situation fall behind them as they had with so many others.

“Get some sleep, man. I got your back,” Mouse said simply, standing up and perfectly positioning his chair so that he had a clear view of both the window and the door, Jay’s bed still visible in his periphery. He glanced back at Jay and nodded once, cracking a grin, before settling into his new position.

Jay watched his friend for a moment and reached over slowly, grabbing the medicine cup from the side table. He dry-swallowed the pills and laid back, readjusting the ice pack on his shoulder and shifting in the bed to take some pressure off his ribs. He closed his eyes, listening to Mouse rhythmically bounce his legs, and took a deep breath as the medication started to take the edge off the pain. Within minutes, Jay was asleep.

xxx

Will looked around the corner and froze, making eye contact with Mouse.

Mouse turned his head slightly, confirming Jay was asleep, and looked back to Will. He nodded once and winked, and Will nodded back before stepping outside the room and leaning his head against the wall, sighing. Relief washed over him and he smiled for the first time since his brother had rolled into his ED.


End file.
